American Athletic Conference
The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities – and four associate member universities – that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I, with its football teams competing in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest levels for athletic competition in U.S. collegiate sports. Member universities represent a range of well-regarded private and public universities of various enrollment sizes located primarily in urban metropolitan areas in the Northeastern, Midwestern, Western, and Southern regions of the United States. The American was considered one of the six collegiate power conferences of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) era.The American inherited the Big East's automatic berth to a BCS game for the 2013 season. With the advent of the College Football Playoff, The American became a part of the "Group of Five" conferences, which share one automatic spot in the New Year's Six bowl games.The other conferences in the "Group of Five" are Conference USA (C-USA), the Mid-American Conference (MAC), the Mountain West Conference, and the Sun Belt Conference. The American, however, remains a power conference in men's basketball.http://theamerican.org/sports/2014/10/21/MBB_1021145448.aspx?id=93& The league is the product of substantial turmoil in the original Big East Conference during the 2010–14 conference realignment period. It is one of two conferences to emerge from the all-sports Big East in 2013. While the other successor, which does not sponsor football, purchased the Big East Conference name, The American inherited the old Big East's structure and is that conference's legal successor. However, both conferences claim 1979 as their founding date, and the same history up to 2013. The American is headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, and led by Commissioner Michael Aresco. History The original Big East The original Big East Conference was founded in 1979 as a basketball conference and included the colleges of Providence, St. John's, Georgetown, and Syracuse, which in turn invited Connecticut (UConn), Holy Cross, Rutgers, and Boston College to be members. UConn and Boston College would accept the invitation, while Holy Cross soon thereafter declined the invitation, and Rutgers eventually declined and remained in the Atlantic 10 Conference (then known as the Eastern 8 Conference). Seton Hall was then invited as a replacement, and the conference started play with seven members. Villanova and Pittsburgh joined shortly thereafter under the leadership of the Big East's first commissioner, Dave Gavitt. The conference remained largely unchanged until 1991, when it began to sponsor football, adding Miami as a full member, and Rutgers, Temple, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia as football-only members. Rutgers and West Virginia upgraded to full Big East membership in 1995, while Virginia Tech did the same in 2000. Temple football was kicked out after the 2004 season, but rejoined in 2012 and intended to become a full Big East member in 2013. The unusual structure of the Big East, with the "football" and "non-football" schools, led to instability in the conference. The waves of defection and replacement brought about by the conference realignments of 2005 and 2010–13 revealed tension between the football-sponsoring and non-football schools that eventually led to the split of the conference in 2013. Realignment and reorganization }} The conference was reorganized following the tumultuous period of realignment that hobbled the Big East between 2010 and 2013. The Big East was one of the most severely impacted conferences during the most recent conference realignment period. In all, 14 member schools announced their departure for other conferences, and 15 other schools announced plans to join the conference (eight as all-sports members, and four for football only). Three of the latter group later backed out of their plans to join (one for all sports, and the other two for football only). On December 15, 2012, the Big East's seven remaining non-FBS schools, all Catholic institutions – DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, and Villanova – announced that they voted unanimously to leave the Big East Conference, effective June 30, 2015. The "Catholic 7", by leaving, were looking for a more lucrative television deal than the one they would receive by remaining with the football schools. In March 2013, representatives of the Catholic 7 announced they would leave the conference effective June 30, 2013, retaining the Big East name, $10 million, and the right to hold the conference's basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden. Following the announcement of the departure of the Catholic 7 universities, the remaining ten football-playing members started the process of selecting a new name for the conference and choosing a new site to hold its basketball tournament. Various names were considered, with the "America 12" conference reportedly one of the finalists until rejected by college presidents sensitive of adding a number to the end of the conference name.Former Big East to be named American Athletic Conference. ESPN (2013-04-04). Retrieved on 2013-07-15. On April 3, 2013, the conference announced that it had chosen a new name: The American Athletic Conference. The league also revealed that it prefers the nickname "The American"; it was thought "AAC" would cause too much confusion with the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Louisville and Rutgers spent one season in the renamed conference. On July 1, 2014, Louisville joined the ACChttp://www.theacc.com/genrel/112812aaa.html and Rutgers joined the Big Ten Conference.Rutgers Scarlet Knights accept invitation to join Big Ten as Board of Governors gives go-ahead to athletic director Tim Pernetti. NY Daily News (2012-11-19). Retrieved on 2013-07-15. On that same day, East Carolina, Tulane, and Tulsa joined The American for all sports, while Sacramento State and San Diego State joined as associate members for women's rowing. Navy joined as an associate member in football on July 1, 2015. Commissioners Membership timeline ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1979 till:2020 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<# Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.631,0.616,0.741) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports id:AssocF value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.8,0.8,0.7) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for another sport only id:OtherC0 value:rgb(0.896,0.796,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved in another conference id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.896,0.599) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved in another conference when the other color has already been used id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.5,0.691,0.824) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved from the Original Big East DateFormat = yyyy AlignBars = justify PlotData = width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:OtherC2 from:1979 till:2013 text:Connecticut Big East bar:1 color:Full from:2013 till:end text:American (2013–present) bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:1979 till:1991 text:Rutgers A10 bar:2 color:OtherC2 from:1991 till:2013 text:A10 + Big East FB only (1991–1995); Big East (Full; 1995–2013) bar:2 color:Full from:2013 till:2014 bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:2014 till:end text: Big Ten bar:3 color:OtherC1 from:1979 till:1982 text:Temple Ind bar:3 color:OtherC0 from:1982 till:1991 text:A10 (FB Ind) bar:3 color:OtherC2 from:1991 till:2005 text:A10 + Big East FB only (1991–2004 & 2012) bar:3 color:OtherC0 from:2005 till:2013 text:A10 bar:3 color:OtherC2 from:2012 till:2013 bar:3 color:Full from:2013 till:end text:American (2013–present) bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:1979 till:1995 text:Louisville Metro (FB Ind) bar:4 color:OtherC0 from:1995 till:2005 text:C-USA bar:4 color:OtherC2 from:2005 till:2013 text:Big East bar:4 color:Full from:2013 till:2014 bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:2014 till:end text:ACC bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:1979 till:1991 text:Cincinnati Metro (FB Ind) bar:5 color:OtherC0 from:1991 till:1995 text:GMC (FB Ind) bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:1995 till:2005 text:C-USA bar:5 color:OtherC2 from:2005 till:2013 text:Big East bar:5 color:Full from:2013 till:end text:American (2013–present) bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:1979 till:1991 text:South Florida SBC bar:6 color:OtherC0 from:1991 till:1995 text:Metro (FB Ind) bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:1995 till:2005 text:C-USA bar:6 color:OtherC2 from:2005 till:2013 text:Big East bar:6 color:Full from:2013 till:end text:American (2013–present) bar:7 Color:OtherC1 from:1979 till:1996 text:Houston SWC bar:7 Color:OtherC0 from:1996 till:2013 text:C-USA bar:7 Color:Full from:2013 till:end text:American (2013–present) bar:8 Color:OtherC1 from:1979 till:1991 text:Memphis Metro (FB Ind) bar:8 Color:OtherC0 from:1991 till:1995 text:GMC (FB Ind) bar:8 Color:OtherC1 from:1995 till:2013 text:C-USA bar:8 Color:Full from:2013 till:end text:American (2013–present) bar:9 Color:OtherC1 from:1979 till:1996 text: SMU SWC bar:9 Color:OtherC0 from:1996 till:2005 text:WAC bar:9 Color:OtherC1 from:2005 till:2013 text:C-USA Bar:9 Color:Full from:2013 till:end text:American (2013–present) bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:1979 till:1984 text:UCF SSC bar:10 color:OtherC0 from:1984 till:1990 text:D-I Ind bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:1990 till:1991 text:ASC bar:10 color:OtherC0 from:1991 till:1992 text:SB bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:1992 till:2005 text:ASun (MAC FB only 2002-2004) bar:10 color:OtherC0 from:2005 till:2013 text:C-USA bar:10 color:Full from:2013 till:end text:American (2013–present) bar:11 color:OtherC1 from:1979 till:1981 text:ECU Ind bar:11 color:OtherC0 from:1981 till:2001 text:CAA (FB Ind) bar:11 color:OtherC1 from:2001 till:2014 text:C-USA bar:11 color:Full from:2014 till:end text:American (2014–present) bar:12 color:OtherC1 from:1979 till:1995 text:Tulane Metro (FB Ind) bar:12 color:OtherC0 from:1995 till:2014 text:C-USA bar:12 color:Full from:2014 till:end text:American (2014–present) bar:13 color:OtherC1 from:1979 till:1986 text:Tulsa MVC bar:13 color:OtherC0 from:1986 till:1996 text:MVC (FB Ind) bar:13 color:OtherC1 from:1996 till:2005 text:WAC bar:13 color:OtherC0 from:2005 till:2014 text:C-USA bar:13 color:Full from:2014 till:end text:American (2014–present) bar:14 color:OtherC1 from:1979 till:1991 text:Navy CAA (FB Ind) bar:14 color:OtherC0 from:1991 till:2015 text:Patriot (FB Ind) bar:14 color:AssocF from:2015 till:end text: Patriot (FB American) bar:15 color:OtherC2 from:1979 till:2013 text:Big East (1979–2013) bar:15 color:Full from:2013 till:end text:American (2013–present) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1980 TextData = fontsize:L textcolor:black pos:(0,30) tabs:(500-center) text:^"American Athletic Conference Membership History" }} Member universities The conference currently has eleven full member institutions – and four associate members – in eleven states, including California, Connecticut, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas. Current members Associate members Former members Two members have departed from the conference. Sports The American sponsors championship competition in ten men's and eleven women's NCAA sanctioned sports. Sacramento State, San Diego State University, and Villanova University are associate members for women's rowing.The Official Site of The American Athletic Conference - Sponsored Sports. American Athletic Conference. Retrieved on 2014-06-10. Conference members who sponsor women's lacrosse and field hockey compete as associate members of the Big East. |- Under NCAA rules reflecting the large number of male scholarship participants in football and attempting to address gender equity concerns (see also Title IX), each member institution is required to provide more women's varsity sports than men's.Under NCAA Bylaw 20.9.4, all Division I schools are required to sponsor a minimum of seven men's and seven women's sports, or six men's and eight women's sports. Bylaw 20.9.7.1 imposes the latter requirement on FBS schools. FCS schools, under Bylaw 20.9.8.1, may use either requirement. Note that this does not explicitly require that a school sponsor two more women's sports than men's sports. See |- Men's sponsored sports by school Men's varsity sports not sponsored by The American which are played by conference schools: Women's sponsored sports by school Women's varsity sports not sponsored by The American which are played by conference schools: * Women's Bowling - The Southland Conference provides administrative support for the Southland Bowling League, but the SBL operates independently from regular conference operations. The women's bowling league was established in 2015 and includes Southland Conference members Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin, plus Arkansas State, Louisiana Tech, Monmouth, Tulane, Valparaiso and Vanderbilt. National team championships Thru July 2, 2014http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/champs_records_book/Overall.pdf Men's basketball In June 2013, it was announced that the inaugural men's basketball tournament will take place at FedExForum in Memphis. FedExForum had previously hosted eight Conference USA basketball tournaments. Even though the Big East Conference was meant to be a basketball-oriented conference, the 2014 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship (the first after the conferences split) was won by UConn, a member of the American. Women's basketball In June 2013, it was announced that the inaugural women's basketball tournament would take place at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. Women's basketball teams have played a total of eighteen times in the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship (since 1982), with UConn winning 10 national championships under head coach Geno Auriemma since 1995. Women's national championship tournaments prior to 1982 were run by the AIAW. Facilities Academics One of the current member schools, Tulane University, is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization of 62 leading research universities in the United States and Canada. Six members are doctorate-granting universities with "very high research activity," the highest classification given by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Member schools are also highly ranked nationally and globally by various groups, including U.S. News & World Report, Washington Monthly, and Times Higher Education. Internet * American Digital Network broadcasts women's basketball games, most conference events otherwise not televised, baseball championship game, championship games for select olympic sports See also * List of NCAA conferences * Big East Conference (2013–present) * Big East Conference (1979–2013) Notes References External links * Category:NCAA conferences Category:NCAA Division I schools